Our Adventures on Mt. Fuji

With school coming up, time was running out to do the various adventures we wanted to do. So, since the off-season for Mt. Fuji had only begun 3 weeks ago (meaning the mountain was still safe to climb, weather permitting), Ashleigh and I decided to give it a go. The journey to the mountain involved a train to Shinjuku, a 2 hour bus ride to Kawaguchiko Station, and a 50 minute bus ride to the Kawaguchiko 5th Station. On Mt. Fuji, there are multiple hiking trails to the summit, each of which has 10 stations with rest stops (called huts) and shops. The 5th Stations are generally where hikers begin, and Kawaguchiko 5th Station is the most popular of these stations (also the most easily accessible).
The bus ride to Kawaguchiko Station was filled with beautiful scenery. The glare off the windows is a little annoying, but the mountains were too beautiful not to share.

Our first view of Mt. Fuji from the bus!

A before picture from the second bus--from Kawaguchiko Station to Kawaguchiko 5th Station.

The little bus that goes up the mountain. The seats in front are priority (for elderly, handicapped, people with small children, etc.), and the seats in the back were tiered.

At the fifth station--a before picture in front of the mountain! The woman who took this picture was an English-speaking representative of the 5th Station, and she was quite relieved to know we'd brought food and rain gear. She also informed us that the only open hut was at the 8th Station--since it was the off-season, everything else was closed!

We had several hours to kill before going up the mountain. The traditional way to hike Fuji is to do it at night so you can reach the summit to watch the sun rise. This picture is of a shrine that was at the 5th Station.

The clouds that were rolling in. These actually stayed low and went around the mountain. The storms that hit the mountain came from the other side.

Information about the 5th Station. 6.3 kilometers is actually inaccurate: it's more like 7 or so. The summit is at 3,776 meters.

This is the map of the trail we took: The Yoshida trail. The giant split is for the ascending trail (on the right--lots of stairs) and the descending trail (on the left--lots of switchbacks). The ascending trail was closed due to construction, so we took the descending trail up the mountain.

That's pretty much the 5th Station. There's a waiting room (for buses) and some free bathrooms down some stairs, and a shrine up some steps, but that's really about it. Lots of shops and food!

After all the shops closed, Ashleigh and I waited for the sun to set to begin our hike. The sunset was pretty beautiful (but nothing even compares to a Tucson summer sunset)!

Sunset on the mountain.

I couldn't help but take pictures of the mountain at different times of the day. It just looked so majestic the whole time!

It got chilly, so we put on some of our layers and rain gear. In this picture, I'm in 2 shirts, a sweatshirt, shorts, a pair of tights, and sweatpants. I have a small pair of socks and a thick pair of socks. There are 3 plastic bags in each shoe (1 outside the small socks, 2 outside the thick socks) to water-proof the shoes as best as possible (this method actually worked really well, although it did cramp the feet a little). The red things are gaiters--they keep water and small rocks from falling into your shoes (they are also my new love in life).

One more of Mt. Fuji--this time at night! We still had a few hours to wait....

Eventually, though, Ashleigh and I noticed some clouds that looked like the might be heading for us. There was a lot of lightning in these clouds, and we decided that it would be best to start our hike in order to figure out what we would do in case the storm reached us (there is an emergency hut on the mountain--it seemed like a safe move to get there before the storm). Since we couldn't hear any thunder, we decided we would most likely be alright. Our thoughts were confirmed by some hikers heading down the mountain--a couple of Norwegians who had lost the rest of their party when they turned around early. They agreed that the storm probably wouldn't reach us. These hikers had been talking to a German man (probably around 40-45 years old) who was also setting up the mountain. We decided to form a little team--Ashleigh, myself, and our new German friend (for the life of me, I can't spell his name).

This view is from partway up the mountain--you can see the city lights. I decided that some of them looked like an A (debatably for Arizona or Ashleigh).

These clouds eventually surrounded the mountain, though they never actually affected us. They were definitely cool to watch!

Hiking Mt. Fuji is certainly not "mountaineering." The hike is not particularly demanding in a mental sense (as proven by the fact that many inexperienced hikers go up the mountain each year in the on-season). Physically, however, it's a different story. The switchbacks up the descending trail were steep and with lots of small rocks. Since it's the same motion all the way up the mountain, the thighs don't get much of a break. Combine that with the altitude, a heavy backpack, and unchanging scenery once you pass the 6th Station (especially at night, where the thin layer of green toward the base is invisible), and you have a rather tiring hike up. It's important to remember to take it slow--everyone we talked to who had little experience in high altitudes but went quickly told us they regretted it. We went slowly and had very few problems with the altitude. We took some pretty long breaks at the closed 7th Station and at the Emergency Hut to eat and relax. We were eventually advised by someone who had summited already to go until we warmed up, then stop until we got cold. We did that until the two trails (ascending and descending) connected.

Ashleigh and our hiking buddy--probably at the 7th Station.

At the juncture of the ascending and descending Yoshida trails, a heavy fog rolled in. We'd been seeing clouds coming from the other side of the mountain, but up until that point they had just dissipated. We could no longer see very far, and our headlamps did a lovely job of illuminating the fog. We knew that a hut was open just a small ways away from us, and so we headed down the ascending trail toward a light. We were correct; the hut was open, so we went inside and sat right in front of the sleeping innkeeper in the area where the toilet shoes were housed. No more than 1 minute after we were inside, the rain started pouring down. We sat there for a solid 45 minutes (with various hut guests noticing us and agreeing that we could stay out of the rain as long as we sat where the shoes went) until the innkeeper's alarm started going off. Fortunately for us, he would wake up, snooze his alarm, and fall back asleep without looking up. This continued for another 15-20 minutes before an inn guest went too close to the innkeeper. He shot up and yelled at us to get out or pay. We decided to wait outside until the storm ebbed and we could continue toward the summit. The innkeeper was not nice about it, though; he wouldn't even allow us the time to put on our clothes before stepping out into the rain.

After about a half an hour of being outside, we came to the realization that the storm was not going to back off any time soon. We decided the best decision was to spend the night in the hut, despite the rude innkeeper and the steep price of ~$70 per person (to stay from 2am until 8am)! We spent the night on tiered-bunk-like beds that were really just padding with a sleeping bag and an extra blanket.

The innkeeper's job is to wake everyone up at 3 or so in the morning so they can hike and summit in time for the sunrise. Unfortunately, the weather made this hike impossible, so he woke us at 5 so we could watch the sunrise from the hut. I watched a little of it from the window, but the clouds made it a little less fantastic, and it was quite cold. It was still beautiful; above is one of the pictures of the sun rising.

In the morning, we knew that there was virtually no chance of us making it up to the summit. The weather was rainy at best and unpredictable at worst, so we teamed up with a larger group of people coming down the mountain. We again took the descending Yoshida trail, and we hiked through hail, lightning, wind, and rain. The hike down, however, was surprisingly more beautiful and certainly a lot easier. It takes 6-8 hours to summit Mt. Fuji...and 2-4 to descend.

The view of the clouds as we headed down the mountain. You can see a little of a large lake if you look in the middle of the photo toward the right.

There was definitely green at the bottom of the mountain! The hike down was pretty despite the weather. We did find that the signs can be a little confusing, but as long as you know where you going, you'll be able to get there. Sometimes you just end up taking a different route to the same place.

Ashleigh and me on our way back down. I'm wearing 5 shirts, a sweater, a windbreaker/coat, a pair of shorts, a pair of tights, sweatpants, the same sock/plastic bag setup as earlier, two beanies, and and my poncho/rain suit. I was definitely warm enough!

Our traveling party. We learned about halfway down that two of these folks were the Norwegians we'd been searching for the whole time! (We'd asked everyone we saw on the way up if they were the Norwegians.) So, our "team" consisted of 3 Japanese (who were also going to Waseda!), 2 Norwegians, 1 Korean, 1 German, 1 New Zealander, and 1 American (me!). Some of the people aren't pictured here...cause someone had to take the picture! It was a lot of fun; I really love that such a varied group of people can come together.

So, overall, the trip was fantastic, even without having made it to the top. I wouldn't change a thing about it (except maybe getting stuck in traffic on the way back :P).

Well, then! Until next time!
<3